The most readable business book for angels and entrepreneurs. Written by serial entrepreneur and seasoned angel investor Peter Cowley, this book describes the key ingredients for becoming an Invested Investor and what it takes to work with an Invested Investor, whilst guiding you through the business journey.
Aimed at angel investors, entrepreneurs, and anyone interested in start-ups, The Invested Investor shows what it takes to be an angel investor that adds more than just money and best practice for working with angels. You will learn from the experiences of serial entrepreneurs, seasoned angel investors, and many more from the start-up ecosystem. The book aims to reduce mistakes, increase honesty and create more successful exits. It will guide the reader on how to raise a start-up and build a scale-up.
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This remarkable book traces Peter Cowley's personal journey from being an entrepreneur and a business angel to an Invested Investor. It also interweaves decades of his own "lessons learned" with those of other entrepreneurs and angel investors, so that it simultaneously constitutes a major piece of research, all the while having the slight flavour of being a mystery story. You cannot wait until you get to the end to find out how it all worked out! The readers, be they angel investors, entrepreneurs, or even policymakers, researchers, and large corporations seeking to find the secrets of innovation and scaling up, will be well rewarded with this insightful, eminently useful and readable book. It is well worth the time invested to read and to keep on coming back to as a reference over and over again.
Candace Johnson - Serial Entrepreneur and Angel Investor, SES Astra, SES Global, Loral Teleport Europe, Europe Online, EBAN President Emeritus, OWNSAT-Kacific
Peter’s candid and transparent approach is what the start-up world needs. This book helps both investors and entrepreneurs understand the mind of an invested investor.
Jon Bradford – Founding Partner, Motive Partners and the Godfather of European Accelerators
Peter is a unique angel investor in that he is absolutely tireless at passing on his hard-won knowledge of starting deep tech businesses and making them successful. He works extremely hard with aspiring entrepreneurs and helps them to beat the odds every step of the way through a combination of great knowledge and forthright coaching. When I first heard him use the expression 'The Invested Investor', I immediately understood the concept and have been using the expression myself and extolling its virtues. I am delighted that Peter is formalising this approach and turning it into a model for business angels and investors. Successful start-up investment is so much more than the financial transaction and this method will help to keep Angel investing rich, enjoyable and successful.
Robert Marshall – CEO, Marshall Group
I have made my way through the chapters with great interest and found the book both informative and a real pleasure to read. No mean feat!
I was particularly struck by your comments at the top of page 66!
Catherine Lewis La Torre – CEO, British Business Investments & British Patient Capital
Combining humor and deep insights, Peter Cowley delves into the opportunities and obstacles of being a successful angel investor. Whether, you are a new angel, a seasoned angel, or just someone who wants to support innovative ideas, I highly recommend this book. It will likely save you a lot of mistakes and may even help you find some winners.
Linda Smith – Chairman of The Board, Angel Capital Association
Peter's honest approach gives entrepreneurs the chance to understand the mindset of the investor & that not all investors are equal.
Hanadi Jabado – Director of Enterprise, Cambridge Judge Business School
What I liked about this book was how candid the author was on investing returns - in that one should expect lots of failures along with the few successes - if one has made enough investments. He also has a good set of case studies of real-life companies with a surprising amount of inside detail which is normally hidden. This book is great for first time and seasoned angel investors. Although it has a UK emphasis, the lessons are good for investors in any country.
Ronjon Nag - Exited Entrepreneur, Invested Investor and Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute Interdisciplinary Fellow
Advice may not always go to plan, but the advice Peter gives in this book is hugely useful to entrepreneurs looking for angel investment. His frank personality has produced a very readable and interesting insight into angel investing.
Shirin Dehghan – Founder & CEO, Arieso and Senior Partner, Frog Capital.
I was preparing some classes for Cambridge Judge Business School for their Masters in Entrepreneurship and not surprisingly one of the reading materials will be the book by Peter Cowley. Great insight into Business Angel thoughts.
Goncalo de Vasconcelos – Founder & CEO, SyndicateRoom
Straight-forward, wise and practical advice from the Archangel of Angels. Well worth reading for entrepreneurs, angels and advisors.
Martin Frost – Founder & CEO, CMR Surgical
It reads well and has good cartoons. A useful reminder to those of us in the industry of what we should be doing, a guide for new angels; but in my opinion particularly good for entrepreneurs to help them understand how private investors think.
Struan McDougall – Founder & Chairman, Cambridge Capital Group
The candid, honest, war story approach resonates with the way I like to help start-ups.
Ian Tracey – Head of Access to Funding & Finance at The Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN)
The Invested Investor book provides an excellent insight into the way angel investors think.
Mark Littlewood – CEO, Business of Software Conference
